Wolf bounties helped control population | Column

In 1901, the Grand Rapids Tribune said if you asked the average man making his home in one of the Wood County cities if there were wolves in the county, he would say no. If pinned down to a number, he might say there were a half-dozen, mostly strays who wandered in from further north during cold weather.

However, since Jan. 1 that year, no less than 60 wolves and six wildcats had been killed, according to bounties paid, a county bounty of $5 and the same state bounty on each wolf.

Wildcats on the other hand only garnered a dollar from each source.

In 1901, most of the wolves taken were killed by two hunters from Boscobel who, with dogs, worked the woods in a "scientific" manner and made good wages from their work.

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If you were a farmer protecting your livestock, you killed all wolves you saw but particularly the old ones, to stop the pack from increasing as fast.

Interestingly though, wolf hunters killed the younger wolves and allowed the older ones to live. Older wolves bore six to nine young, assuring survival of the pack and therefore more to kill the following season. They saw killing the older wolves akin to killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

County Clerk Renne, who paid out the bounties, wanted to see a smaller bounty placed on the young wolves so that in time, all the wolves would be exterminated.

In 1903, the Marshfield Times ran a story on the timber wolves that were killing the sheep and chickens in the northern part of Wood County. The ones brought into Clerk Renne that January were killed at Auburndale, Seneca and Hanson, the last shot by Otto Lamb who stated despite the incongruity of his name, was a very successful hunter, having shot five wolves the previous year.

In 1905, hunters were encouraged to kill the mature wolves and by 1907, the price had dropped to $2 each from state and county, but with a promise of $4 from each if the wolf was a mature one.

There was also a warning that foxes' scalps were being "palmed off" as wolves, and advised that "black-tipped ears are not found upon wolves."

In early January 1908, two wolves and seven foxes were brought in for payment from Auburndale, Dexter, Hiles and Marshfield with the bounty on wolves now $10 from the county and $10 more from the state.

The Wood County Reporter stated, "Apparently there are a large number of wolves in Wood County, and it is notable that these come from the western part of the country where the lands are less thickly settled."

Wherever they came from, they were not wanted.

Rhonda Whetstone is a columnist for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. Follow her musings on Twitter @TribRendezvous. You also can get previews of upcoming columns by clicking “Like” on Back to the North Wood on Facebook. If you have story ideas of a historical nature, email her at Rhonda.Whetstone@gmail.com.